Fake Hamilton Military Watches and How to Identify Them

CK Lim wrote:

Good day. I’m CK here from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

I came to know your website after helping my uncle to identify a vintage he recently acquired – Hamilton Type A-11 for U.S. servicemen (please refer attachments).

However I was unable to find any info about this piece, therefore would like to seek your advice whether this piece is genuine or a fake Hamilton.

Thank you in advance.

CK included these pictures. You can click on an image to enlarge it.

I replied:

CK. I think it’s fake. I’m attaching a pdf file that covers everything one might know about these watches. Take a look. Maybe you can find a specification that fits. If Hamilton made this watch, they wouldn’t have made it in the US. The movement doesn’t look like it fits in an A-11.

(Take a look at “US Government issued Vietnam War Watches with a Section on Fake” from  GSW Suwanee, GA, USA)

GSW has extensive information on most watches about which I know. You can find the download at http://lsyf.com/download/military-id/US-GOV-ISSUE-VIETNAM-WATCHES.pdf but I encourage you to visit GSW’s website.

CK replied:

Judging from the info in the PDF file, I believe most likely my uncle’s Hamilton is fake.

Below are some of the reasons:

1. The brand “Hamilton” should not appear on the dial of military contract watches (except Bulova).
2. The dial design does not fit military specification.
3. There is no luminescence on its marker, minute and hour hands.
4. There is no second hand.
5. The stainless steel case does not look like A-11 design.

In fact, I had also found a forum indicated that Hamilton never developed Type A-11 –

http://www.mwrforum.net/forums/showthread.php?46212-Why-didn%92t-Hamilton-make-a-Type-A-11-Watch

I wrote again:

Thank you for the opportunity. I had a blog entry discussing World War II, but it never went into great depth. Hamilton had already supplied the US Military with a few hundred thousand watches when the A-11 went into production. Supposedly, Hamilton did have a small hand in the A11 project but did not retrofit their assembly line, due to the needs of the Allies.

I hope you find this helpful when you shop on eBay. If you choose Amazon instead, I hope you will use extra caution. Please, do not take that as a knock on Amazon, I just find eBay’s process for returns easier. – That’s my opinion.